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Desert Island Discs
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MISSED A PROGRAMME?
Go to the Listen Again page |
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This Week's Guest:
Tom Blundell
03 June 2007
Repeated
8 June 2007 |
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Tom's Choice |
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Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the leading scientist Professor Sir Tom Blundell.
His specialism is in molecular biology, which involves studying the tiniest building blocks of life under a microscope, in the hope of finding treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes. It is a hugely visual kind of science, and this, he says, is no coincidence - he loves science first and foremost for its beauty.
He regularly seeks this beauty beyond the laboratory too; in art, in music and in travelling all over the world. One very special trip was to Africa for his wedding, after which he was somewhat surprised at being asked to pay for his Zimbabwean bride – a fellow academic - in cows…
As a working class student at Oxford in the Sixties, he developed a fascination with politics, and at one point this activism threatened to overwhelm his life completely. When forced to choose between science and politics, he says he realised that politics was simply too hard. In recent years he has finally been able to combine the two, by chairing numerous Government science committees, and making key recommendations on issues as diverse as mad cow disease and climate change. |
1. Refavela
Performer Gilberto Gil
Composer Gilberto Gil
CD Title Electracustico
Track 1
Label WEA
Rec No 5050467761025
2. New St Louis Blues
Performer Chris Barber’s Jazz Band and Ottilie Patterson
Composer W C Handy
CD Title Echoes of Harlem
Track 5
Label CASTLE
Rec No CMXBX 981-1
3. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
Performer Charles Mingus
Composer C Mingus
CD Title Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy – Jazz Festival – Antibes1960
Track 2
Label GIANTS OF JAZZ
Rec No CD0236
4. Strange Fruit
Performer Billie Holiday
Composer Lewis Allen
CD Title Lady Sings the Blues Vol 4
Track 12
Label VERVE
Rec No 5214292
5. Sakhi Prana
Performer Veenai Jayanthi
Composer Dharmapuri Subbaraya
CD Title Shankaram
Track 6
Label MUSIC TODAY
Rec No CDC 04225
6. Qual Cor Tradisti from the Second Act of Norma
Performer Jane Eaglen with the Orchestra and Chorus of Maggio Musicale of Florence conducted by Riccardo Muti
Composer Bellini
CD Title Bellini: Norma
Track CD3 trk 11
Label EMI
Rec No CDS 5554712
7. Send Me
Performer Hugh Masekela
Composer trad
CD Title Time
Track 1
Label CHISSA Records
Rec No CDCOL 8198
8. The Song of the Hebrew Slaves
Performer Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutschen Oper Berlin conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli
Composer Verdi
CD Title Opern-chore:Mozart/Weber/Beethoven/Wagner/Verdi
Track 6
Label DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Rec No 4152832
Record: Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
Book: Lessons in Ndbele
Luxury: A combined heat and power micro-unit |
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